Apparatus for the manufacture of wirebound box blanks



APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2, 191B.

Patented Aug. 22, 1922..

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTQR ATTORNEY W. G. ZIMMERIVIAN'. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIREBOUND BOX BLANK-S.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2. I9I8.

Patented Aug. 22., I922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR W. G. ZIMMERMAN.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF'WIREBOUND BOX BLANKS. APPLICATION FILED ocr. 2. 191

1 26,941 Patented Aug. 22, 1922.

3 5HEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTOR' a" A r r #75) :wg W w g en e ain WILLIAM G, ZI'ii'Ili/IERMAN, 0F EVERETT, 'WASHKNG-TON.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Application filed October 2, 1918. Serial No. 256,537.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM G. ZIMMER MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Everett, in the county oi Snohomish and State or Washington, have invented a new and useful improvement in r'ipparatus for the liianufacture of lVirebound Bo); Blanks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus for the manufacture of wire-bound box blanks.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the sta 3ling mechanism of such machines may be thrown out of operation so that no staples will be made or used at predetermined points, as at the points represented by the line between the respective sides of the box and at the space which is left between successive box blanks in order to provide wire ends which may be joined when the box blank is assembled in the completed box.

The purpose of my invention is to automatically cut out the stapling mechanisms at these points, and in fact at any other point where it may be desired to omit the stapling action, this being done automatically, and by doing so to save the material which would otherwise be wasted in the production and driving 01' these staples.

My invention consists of a mechanism which is applied'to machines of this kind for automatically securing the above results. In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention as applied. to a machine or this kind, this being embodied in a type of construction which is now prei'erred by me.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation taken in a plane extending across the direction of movement of the conveyor, and showing one side only of the conveyor.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of that part oi the machine which includes a portion of the conveyor and the mechanism by which the stapling mechanism is controlled.v

Figure 3 shows, in plan view, the mech' anism. which I have added to the machine and its relation to the staple controlling means and to the conveyor.

The type of machine with which my invention is designed to be used, is that in which a conveyor is employed which is provided with means for accurately placing the parts which compose the box blank, namely the side boards and the cleats to which said side boards are secured. This conveyor may be an endless chainmechanism, such for instance as is shown in U. S. patent to Craig, No. 86 1,955, of September 8, 1907; the two patents to Miller Nos. 1,142,351 of June 8, 1915 and 1,191,111, of July 11, 1916; or it may be a conveyor of the reciprocating type, such as is shown in the patents to Miller No. 815,196, of March 13, 1996, and to Inwood and Lavenberg, No. 1,128,1 14, of February 9,- 1915.

The apparatus of such machine which has been shown in connection with my inven-. tion, is basedupon a machine as actually constructed which is of the endless chain type of conveyor. The details of construe,

tion of the machine it is not believed neces sary to show or describe in any detail. The parts 1, 10 and 11 are parts or" the endless chain mechanism which forms a conveyor in this type of machine. This conveyor is provided with pockets for the reception of cleats 2 and is also provided with thin spacing ears or fingers 12, between which the side members 20 of the box are placed so as to accurately position these with relation to each other. i

As shown in. Figure 1, the binding wire 21 is passed down over guiding wheels 23, 2 1, and is secured to the b0 parts by means of staples 22. As many of these binding wires as needed are employed. One of these bind.- ing wires is placed at each end of the side boards 20 so that when stapled thereto the cleat 2 is also secured to the side board 20. Additional binding wires are placedat intermediate points as required, thenumber of them being immaterial to my invention. In machines of the character referred to and which are illustrated in the patents named, stapling mechanisms are provided which form and drive these staples. A. type of stapling mechanism which may be employed is shown in the patent of Bombardie, No. 1,203,553, of October 31, 1916. Any type of stapling mechanism may however, be used which fits with the other mechanism. The wire from which the staples. are made is intermittently fed forward by means of a ratchet mechanism of which the ratchet wheel is shown at 3 in Figures 2 and 3. This actuates the shaft 30 by which the wire feeding mechanism, which has been indicated at 31 in Figure 1, is caused to advance the wire a sufiicient distance to form the desired staple. This ratchet mechanism is actuated-through an arm 32 which is Patented Aug. 22, 1922.

reciprocated by means of a rod 33 which is actuated from any suitable and contina cam disk 36, which disk has an arm 37, by

means of which it may be turned. This disk 36 has a portion 38 cut away and normally extending over the arc of movement of the roller 35. So long as the disk 36 remains in thisposition the pawl 34 will act at each reciprocation of the arm 32 to advance the ratchet wheel 3 one tooth. if, however, the arm 37 be thrown up so as to bring the greater peripheral surface of the disk 36 into this arc, the pawl 34 will be held away from the disk 36 and the staple feedingmechanism will not be actuated for this which may be secured to any convenient part 3 O stroke or'the strokes occurring during the time when the disk 36 is occupying this position. I s

In order to install my automatic device on a machine of this sort I provide a base 1,

of the frame, and upon this pivot a special bell crank lever 5, the pivot of this being the bolt 40. The end 50 of one arm of this lever is placed so as to be in the path of travel of the spacing ear or finger 12, which serves as one of the means for positioning the side pieces of the box blanks. I

The opposite arm 51 of this lever has a spring 52 secured thereto and anchored at its opposite end to a bolt or pin'55 carried by the base member L. A link 56 connects the arm 51 with a bell crank lever 6 which is pivoted at-GO to any convenient support. The other arm ofthis bell crank lever is pivotally connected to a link 61 which extends upwardly and, is connected with the arm 37 of the disk 36 by which the operationof the vpawls 3 1- is controlled.

It is evident that when the bell crank lever 5 is actuated by the passage of the member 12, 01' by any other part carried by the conveyor, so as to be thrown into the position indicated by dotted lines in Figure 3, the mechanism just described will cause the feed-controlling disk 36 to throw the pawl out of action and thus prevent the feeding action of the stapling mechanism for so long as the lever 5 mm this position.

Where it is desired to omit only one, or at the most two staples, a thin plate, such as separating plate 12, may be su'flicient for this purpose. Where, however, as between the ends of adjacent box blanks, a material distance occurs during the passage of whichi it is desired to omitthe stapling action, a member must be secured to the conveyor ex tending over acorresponding distance. This may be done by securing a plate 13 to the side of the conveyor, this plate being of a length corresponding to the space during the passage of which no staples are required. These plates may be made of any suitable length and are easily attached to and detached from the conveyor. In consequence of their use, the stapling mechanism may be automatically thrown out of action at any point or points desired, and the duration of these inactive positions'may be varied by varying the length of the member 13 by which the same is controlled.

It is believed that the operation of my device has been clearly set forth and further 7 description thereof is unnecessary.

What I claim as my invention is 1. An automaticstaplefeed controlling attachment for machines of the class described, comprising tappet plates adapted to be secured to the conveyor chain, abase plate adapted to be secured to the machine frame, a. lever pivoted upon said base plate and having one end positioned to be engaged by said tappet plates, a spring secured to said base plate and to said lever to swing the lever into engagement with the tappet plates, and a link secured to said lever and connecting it with the staple controlling mechanism.

2. In a device of the character described, a series of tappetplates adapted to be secured to the conveyor chain, a bell crank lever having a central cylinder forming the pivot bearing and an arm extending from each end of said cylinder, a spring acting to hold one of said arms in the path of said tappet plates, a base plate upon which said lever and spring are carried, and means connecting the other arm with the staple-feed-controlling mechanism, to throw the latter out of action when the other arm is displaced by engaging withsaid tappet plates.

TVILLIAM G. ZIMMERMAN. 

